Technical assistance and direction for RWJF's Project HealthDesign program

The Foundation's program, Catalyzing a Health Information Environment to Support Individuals and Families, was designed to expand the personal health records vision and encourage the market to develop a variety of products that will meet the diverse needs of patients. Many observers see personal health records (PHRs) as a potentially "disruptive innovation" that will help consumers gain more control of their health. Today, most PHRs are essentially electronic copies of patient medical records that patients can view online. However, for PHRs to be most effective, they must reflect the needs of the patients who will use them and they must be able to support a wide range of add-on functions and services. This grant provides technical support and direction to the initiative's National Program Office (NPO) during a continuation phase of the program so that the outputs of Phase One can be assessed as part of the planning for a potential Phase Two authorization. Under this grant, the NPO will provide support to nine grantees that will be receiving small grants to supplement their original awards.